Retribution: A Christmas Story
by KingCobra582
Summary: A small story I wrote back on christmas 2001. Demona is bitter that she doesn't get to spend the holidays with her former clan. Will the love of her daughter help turn that around? Please r and r.


Retribution: A Christmas Story  
By King Cobra3 (kingcobra49036@yahoo.com)  
  
Summary: Can Demona put aside her grudge of humans for the holiday season?  
  
Manhattan, New York  
December 25th, 2001  
  
The time of celebration was finally here.  
  
For months, it seemed like this day would never come. The day of love and wealth and sharing for fellow man. The time to celebrate the birth of Christ all those centuries ago with loved ones. It was a marvelous festival. It was the clan's favorite time of the year.  
  
It was Christmas, obviously. And the Clan, with Elisa, Matt, and the Xanatos family, including Owen/Puck, was having a Christmas party. Complete with eggnog, mistletoe, and presents. Loud holiday music blared from the stereo system Lexington and Brooklyn had set up in the corner of the room. Right now, the track was set on "Jingle Bells".  
  
Everyone was really enjoying themselves. Goliath and Elisa danced slowly to the beat of the music, while the clan and present humans talked amongst themselves. Puck had decided to show his true self for this special occasion and had transformed into the white-haired Fey. Matt laughed as he listened to the Xanatoses tell a Christmas story involving Alex and a tree shaped Christmas cookie. Everyone who was welcomed at Castle Wyvern was there.  
  
But there was one UN-welcomed Gargess who was not invited to the celebration.  
  
Watching from the parapets, the noisy chatter and cheerful music making everyone oblivious to her presence, Demona seethed as she observed her daughter Angela talking heartily with Brooklyn and Broadway. The three were laughing wildly as they drank their cups of eggnog and rum. HHOW DARE the miserable humans and that blasted clan of Goliath's not invite her? She may have been a traitor and she may have attacked them before but this was the season of love and giving. Needless to say, Demona was far from happy.  
  
Getting ticked off, she flew away, unnoticed by anyone.  
  
Well, almost anyone.  
  
Landing on the nearest roof, Demona heard a familiar feminine voice shout "Mother, wait!" and turned to see her beloved daughter flying in quickly, apparently intent on some talk. Demona waited for her to land and was caught off guard when Angela hugged her. "Merry Christmas, Mother." The flame-haired Gargess yanked herself away and growled instinctively, her eyes flaring red for a second. Angela started in alarm. "Mother what's wrong?!"  
  
Demona relaxed and the burning color of her eyes faded.  
  
"Nothing." She answered, smiling. "It's just that I am not entirely fond of human holidays. The concept of giving and joy to fellow man escapes me." Angela put her lavender taloned hand on Demona's shoulder reassuringly. "Maybe that's because you've been fighting for so long, that you've forgotten how to show love to others." Demona looked away. "Come to the party, Mother. For once, stop worrying about killing the humans and us and have fun."  
  
Demona's face remained rock hard. "Your father would never allow it."  
  
Understanding simmered in Angela's eyes. "Father knows that this is the season of forgiveness and sharing. I'm sure you two will willingly bury the hatchet, if only for one night." Demona looked uncertain. "I don't know..."  
  
"Look, the party lasts until 4 am," Angela replied. "It's only 10:30 PM now. At least think about it." Demona looked at her daughter passively. "I will consider it." Angela watched as her mother glided away into the night.  
  
"I hope you decide to come, mother." She whispered, her words falling upon the chill of the December wind.  
* * * * * * * * * * * *   
Gliding over the city, Demona's thoughts turned to her daughter's kind words and the prospect of joining the celebration with her former clan. True, it might be fun and it would ease her mind for the first time in a long time, but still, Goliath would be there. And Brooklyn. And Xanatos. All the foes she hated with every inch of her fiber.   
  
Why should she stand around and listen to them chatter mindlessly about the foolish human customs? They had nothing to do with or her kind, and such traditions were viewed as rubbish in her mind. Demona's heart turned as rock hard as her flesh would have at night if Puck had never turned her human during the day. She would not go. Not even for her daughter's sake.  
  
"Help!"  
  
Startled out of her thoughts, Demona's ears perked at the sound of the muffled scream. Allowing her curiosity to get the better of her, the lovely gargess swooped down onto the roof of a Chinese restaurant and gazed down at the scene playing before her eyes. It looked to her that a terrified human woman was being trapped in a dead end alley by vicious looking gangsters. Demona snorted and turned to leave, to let the irrelevent humans handle their own affairs when she suddenly noticed something. One minor detail about the woman that changed her mind and stirred some sort of...spark...into her soul.  
  
The woman looked like her own daughter.  
  
True, the female was human, but she still possessed Angela's hair, figure, and eyes. For a moment, Demona felt compassion burning a hole into her heart and she wasn't sure why. But this human would not be harmed. She would make sure of that. For the sole purpose that she bore a resemblance to Angela, if for no other reason.   
  
Demona roared her soul shattering battle cry and leaped into the foray of the dead end snarling at the horrified gangbangers. "Pitiful humans! You dare attack a defenseless woman?!" "Kill it! "One scrawny punk ordered and his thugs rushed forward, wielding different weapons while Demona fought back, snatching the iron pipe out of one junkie's hand and smashing it into his skull before throwing him into the nearest dumpster. Facing another young hoodlum, Demona let the jerk have it with a knee to the chin, followed by a punch to the forehead that put him down for the count.  
  
The leader, the scrawny young man, ran away.   
  
Panting, gasping for air roughly, Demona turned towards the human. "D-Don't hurt me!" the terrified woman begged, quaking terror backed in her voice. Instead of responding with words, Demona touched a rift of brown hair that had fallen into the victim's face, and was again instantly reminded of her daughter.   
  
Suddenly, it fully sunk in what she had done that evening. What had she been THINKING, rejecting quality time with her daughter? Why on Earth did she object to going to the party? Demona kicked herself mentally. The decision to refuse her daughter's request evaporated in a heartbeat and she flew off, leaving the baffled human woman to wonder what that had been about.  
* * * * * * * * * * * *   
Standing amidst the party guests, Angela was no longer having fun.  
  
Her mother was not going to come. Why should she? Just for her? Angela knew Demona better then that. What had she been THINKING, inviting her to come? She had known that Father would be furious but didn't care. Now it seemed her invitation was all for nothing. Angela sighed.  
  
And brightened when she saw her mother enter from the balcony.  
  
"Mother!" Angela hugged her, and Demona squeezed her shoulders briefly before pulling away and smiling. "I thought you weren't going to come." Demona smiled. "You could say I met with a stroke of fate." "Merry Christmas, Mother. "As to you, my daughter."  
  
Demona looked past her daughter at Goliath, worried. The big lavender gargoyle nodded his head silently, giving Demona permission to stay. Brooklyn looked peeved, but decided that he could let his grudge for one evening. He tipped his cup of eggnog at his enemy. "Merry Christmas."  
  
Demona smiled at her former mate and his second in command and joined the party warmly. If even for one night, Demona felt like she had been welcomed back into the clan. And it filled her with satisfaction.  
  
The End.  
  
Okay, okay, okay. I KNOW the ending was kind of sappy. So sue me. Any comments that can be made should go to me. kingcobra49036@yahoo.com  
Merry Christmas and have a happy New Year's 2002!  
King Cobra3. 


End file.
